You always knew it would be thus.

Prior to today the Oilers played a riveting game against the Blackhawks that took them all the way to a shootout. The Oilers naturally wanted to build on that momentum, except they put Richard Bachman in net. And Benoit Pouliot was scratched due to illness. With a case of tankitis, I believe. cough, cough

By the first half of the second period the Oilers had a 3 - 0 lead. Corsi watchers, though, pointed out this wouldn’t last. They pointed more to Cam Ward playing a weak game in the Hurricanes’ net more than anything the Oilers were doing right.

c/o war-on-ice.com:

Sure enough, everything unravelled. The Hurricanes tied the game in six minutes and then continued to roll over the Oilers for the remainder of the game.

Even though Ryan Nugent-Hopkins recorded his second career hat trick for a total of four points this game, it still wasn’t enough to save them from an embarrassing loss.

Oscar Klefbom was curiously nowhere to be seen. Klefbom had a fantastic night against the Blackhawks posting far and away the most shots out of the Oilers. Today he posted zero shots and wound up with a -3 plus/minus. Where did Oscar go?

There’s no use getting upset. Now is the time for calm. This is the defense MacTavish is "reasonably comfortable" moving forward with, guys. So take deep breaths and get used to it. This is what Oilers hockey is going to look like for a long time to come.

First period

Some big pressure by Carolina early in the period.

16:00 Some great opportunities with a Teddy Purcell one-on-one but can’t get his stick on it. Shortly after Matt Hendricks passes to Ryan Hamilton for a one-timer hits the post.
13:19 HURRICANES PENALTY Rasmus Rissanen tripping drawn by Derek Roy. Roy back at the blue line looking to make a pass and Rissanen gets a leg under him.
9:41 OILERS GOAL Ryan Nugent-Hopkins assisted by Jordan Eberle. Eberle intercepts a pass along the boards and throws it up for Nuge. 1 - 0 Oilers
8:20 OILERS PENALTY Luke Gazdic tripping drawn by Patrick Dwyer

Shots Oilers 6 - Hurricanes 10

Second period

14:05 HURRICANES PENALTY Alexander Semin hooking drawn by Rob Klinkhammer. Nuge puts the puck in front of an open net to Klinkhammer but his hands are tied up by Semin.
13:15 OILERS POWERPLAY GOAL Jordan Eberle. Richard Bachman makes smart move to not freeze the puck and the play quickly moves back into Hurricane’s zone. A shot from the blueline and Eberele is all alone on the back door to pick up the rebound. 2 - 0 Oilers
12:52 HURRICANES PENALTY Eric Staal interference drawn by Richard Bachman. Staal tries to cut in behind the defence, clips Bachman, who may have embellished a bit.
12:01 OILERS GOAL Ryan Nugent-Hopkins assisted by Jordan Eberele. Nuge makes a good hit entering the zone, puck slides over to Eberle in the corner and back to Nuge in front of the net. 3 - 0 Oilers
10:48 HURRICANES GOAL Alexander Semin. Semin picks up his own rebound with Bachman down. Lying on his belly, has a second whack at the puck. Richard Bachman is about to stand back up and the puck goes underneath him. 3 - 1 Oilers
7:00 HURRICANES GOAL Elias Lindholm. Oilers caught scrambling behind their own net. Puck gets chipped out to Ron Hainsey who backhands it at Bachman. Lindholm bangs in the rebound. 3 - 2 Oilers
5:51 OILERS PENALTY Justin Schultz interference drawn by Alexander Semin
4:57 OILERS PENALTY Teddy Purcell hooking drawn by Alexander Semin. 5 on 3 for the Hurricanes
4:37 HURRICANES POWERPLAY GOAL Jeff Skinner assisted by Eric Staal. Tied 3 - 3

Shots Oilers 9 - Hurricanes 15

Third period

19:28 OILERS PENALTY Martin Marincin holding drawn by Nathan Gerbe
18:20 HURRICANES GOAL Andrej Nestrasil 4 - 3 Hurricanes
15:38 PENALTY Nathan Gerbe roughing drawn by Jordan Eberle. Eberle picks up a high sticking minor plus a roughing minor for a total of four minutes.4 minutes for Eberle 2 minutes for Gerbe 5 on 4 for Hurricanes
13:42 HURRICANES POWERPLAY GOAL Jeff Skinner assisted by Ryan Murphy. 5 - 3 Hurricanes
13:11 HURRICANES GOAL Elias Lindholm assisted by Brody Sutter. 6 - 3 Hurricanes
10:29 OILERS GOAL Ryan Nugent-Hopkins HAT TRICK. Eberle checks his man in the corner and the puck trails out to Nuge who slams it in top corner for his second career hat trick. 6 - 4 Hurricanes
1:20 HURRICANES EMPTY NET GOAL Elias Lindholm HAT TRICK. 7 - 4 Hurricanes

Shots Oilers 5 - Hurricanes 10

Total shots Oilers 20 - Hurricanes 35

Up next…

The Oilers move on to their third of five road games against the Detroit Red Wings tomorrow, Monday March 9. Expect Nuge to catch a flu bug or food poisoning or something.

Every single Oiler with negative Corsi, negative Fenwick and negative shot share thru 40 minutes. Not so much as a breakeven to be seen

— Bruce McCurdy (@BruceMcCurdy) March 8, 2015

Cam Ward has a .750 save percentage and could still win the game. Good grief.

— Matt Henderson (@Archaeologuy) March 8, 2015